Today, according to the WSJ, about a dozen oil companies agreed to pay $423 million to settle litigation with 153 water providers in 17 states over leakage of the gasoline additive MTBE

Rick Wallace of Wallace, King, Domike & Reiskin, who represented Chevron and Shell in the settlement, said that the companies should not be penalized, because MTBE was added in response to federal rules seeking to promote cleaner combustion.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said that as long as militants continue to attack its facilities and the situation goes unresolved, gas flaring will continue in the country.

The settling companies include units of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, ConocoPhillips, the second- largest U.S. refiner, Marathon Oil Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. oil company, Valero Energy Corp. and Sunoco Inc. Chevron is the second-largest U.S. oil company. BP is Europe’ssecond- largest oil company.

The companies in the settlement include BP America Inc., a unit of BP PLC; Chevron Corp.; ConocoPhillips; Shell Oil Co., an arm of Royal Dutch Shell PLC; Marathon Oil Corp.; Citgo Petroleum Corp.; Sunoco Inc.; and Valero EnergyCorp. At least six companies declined to settle, the largest being Exxon MobilCorp.

May 7 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, said it’s unable to meet a 2008 deadline to end gas- flaring in Nigeria because of a lack of security in the region and funding shortfalls

The community, Greene writes, fell victim to decades of environmental racism. Norco’s population was primarily middle-class white families who lived far from the plant. Residents of Diamond, however, were mostly black and more directly exposed to the billowing toxins.

Greene writes that it wasn’t until Shell changed personnel that the plant was cleaned up. Three bold Shell employees risked dismissal when they pestered their bosses about the pollution